Meadowlands: Saturday's $155K Cutler Memorial is deep in talent

The first major trotting race of the season – the $155,200 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial at the Meadowlands – brings together 11 horses with varying degrees of ability, fitness and current form. Trainer Kevin McDermott has been away from this class for nearly 10 years since conditioning Melady's Monet, but returns to the Big M with high hopes for Delayed Hanover, a horse he purchased last fall for $100,000 that previously resided in the Ake Svanstedt stable.

"I think he may end up being better than Melady's Monet," said McDermott from his Saratoga base.

McDermott was a bit surprised he was able to get a Hambletonian heat winner at such a reasonable price and now hopes his "bargain" buy begins to pay off.

"We've paid him into everything," said McDermott. "He's got a great finishing kick and is always charging to the wire."

Delayed Hanover landed post two in the field, and that may keep him in the hunt going into the homestretch. The son of Southwind Frank has won one race in six tries this year and most recently (May 7) tuned up with a third-place finish over the Saratoga half-mile track.

Unfortunately for McDermott, who has a stable of six now, the pressure of finding a catch-driver that will stick when facing the best is extreme.

"Dexter [Dunn] loves the horse but is committed to Bella Bellini," said McDermott. "Scottie [Zeron] really liked him too after finishing third in his last Meadowlands start [April 29], but he just won two big races for Ake [Svanstedt] and had to drive Ambassador Hanover."

That will put Jordan Stratton behind Delayed Hanover, but the trainer has plenty of confidence that Stratton will put Delayed Hanover in a good spot.

"We're going to need a quick pace to close off of," said McDermott.

It's Academic, one of two Ron Burke-trained horses in the Cutler, enters the race in brilliant form with consecutive 1:51 2/5 victories, the last on May 14 at Harrah's Philadelphia. He drew post five on Saturday for driver David Miller. Hillexotic (post 10) has the fastest mile of the year, a 1:50 2/5 clocking on May 6, one of his three victories on the season. Hillexotic has Yannick Gingras in the bike.

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Trainer Nancy Takter enters Pretender, the lone 4-year-old in the field. The son of Muscle Hill landed post six, and Takter is looking forward to the race.

"He's matured a lot between 3 and 4," said Takter of Pretender. "He's done well this year and beaten older horses in his last start."

With three wins in three starts in 2023, Pretender, the second foal out of $2 million winner Maven, has gotten better with each start, scoring in 1:51 4/5 on May 6, his final prep race for the Cutler.

In a qualifying statement to stress Pretender's maturity Takter said: "We've taken off the hopples this year."

The Cutler has some extreme talent, with Bella Bellini (post four) making just her second start of the year and perhaps not yet in peak form. The Nifty Norman-trained daughter of Bar Hopping finished second in a Miss Versatility leg on May 6 and then was third in a qualifier on May 13 at the Meadowlands, well behind Venerate, a horse she'll meet in the Cutler.

Venerate, the Mohawk Million winner in 2020, will be making his debut for new trainer Marcus Melander in the Cutler. The 5-year-old by Love You landed the pole position following a stellar 1:51 2/5 qualifying mile.

Trainer Ake Svanstedt has a powerful stable of older horses but did not get the best of the draw, with Rattle My Cage (post seven), Incommunicado (post eight) and Ambassador Hanover (post nine) stacked on the outside of the starting gate.

Beyond the Cutler, Takter is looking forward to the first start of the year for her standout sophomore pacer Save America on the Saturday card.

"He's a big horse and was running out," said Takter. "We decided to geld him after his first qualifier [April 22]. I thought he finished up much better in his second qualifier [May 5]."

Indeed, Save America had plenty of pace finishing between horses in a field that included Governor's Cup champion El Ray. Save America and El Ray will meet up in Saturday's tenth race, with Save America landing post five and El Ray post six.

The Cutler program will be nicely supported by three New Jersey Sire Stakes divisions for sophomore trotters of both sexes. The 14-race program has a listed first post at 6:20 p.m.